Wizz Air targets record summer traffic and return to net profit
James ChappleWizz Air says it is ready to deliver "record summer traffic" and hopeful of returning to net profit in its 2023/24 full-year, despite failing to address significant and ongoing operational losses.
The budget carrier on Thursday (8 June) revealed its full-year results for the year to 31 March 2023, with chief executive Jozsef Varadi bullish about the airline’s prospects.
Varadi said Wizz had spent much of the past year building a "better and more operationally resilient business", while the carrier said it was "moving in the right direction" as it "transitions into the post-Covid era".
"We are now well placed to continue to drive profitable growth through the rest of the decade and beyond," said Varadi, with Wizz targeting 2023/24 full-year net profit in the range of €350 million to €450 million.
Potential headwinds, said Wizz, include fuel pricing and "structural capacity issues" at some airports, as well as ongoing European air traffic control strikes, not to mention the war in Ukraine, which the airline said posed "unimaginable challenges" last summer.
Wizz on Thursday posted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of €134.3 million, up from a €23.3 million loss, while revenue more than doubled from almost €1.7 billion to just shy of €3.9 billion.
This saw Wizz cut its reported annual loss from -€642.5 million to -€535.1 million, while its operating loss steadied at €466.8 million, a fraction larger than the €465.3 million operating loss it recorded last year. Wizz put this down to "adverse fuel prices and flight disruptions" in its summer season.
Load factor increased from 78.1% to 87.8%, despite Wizz operating a larger fleet of 179 aircraft, up from 153 in the previous year.
Varadi said over the next year (year to 31 March 2024), Wizz would expand its fleet to more than 200 aircraft, and its workforce to 8,000+ people.
The airline expects capacity, measured in available seat kilometres, to increase by 30% and for load factors to rebound to 90%+.
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